Flashbacks

From: Bruce Ferrie <bruce_at_...>
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 18:56:44 +0100

On Wednesday, September 13, 2000 10:33 AM, Wulf Corbett [SMTP:wulfc_at_...] wrote:
> Since HW is meant to be so theatrical/cinematic, we can have a
> flashback episode... anyone else ever try that sort of thing, running
> a 'How my character got this way' sort of scenario, instead of just
> writing it up and spending the HP?

Yeah, I use flashbacks quite often (they've featured in 2 out of 9 episodes of my game so far) a couple of scenarios of that sort of thing. We did a flashback to Starbrow's Rebellions for my friend Rachel's character, to explain how she earned her nickname - Storm Dancer.
In the next episode of the game, which I'll be running on Tuesday, we're doing a flashback to even earlier than that, to when she went through her intiation to Vinga.

They're lovely both for teaching the players about the setting (you can go back to the first time the character saw, say, the Lunars at war) and for filling out the character. My main reason for choosing to do the initiation flashback is that the character in question has a young girl from the clan who wants to be initiated into Vinga as a follower, and *she's* going to be initiated in this episode. Gives us an excuse for Sovah Storm Dancer to reminisce about what happened when she went through the same thing. And lets me "teach" Rachel about the temple to Vinga without having to stop and lecture her about what her character already knows.

Regards,

Bruce